SEC Announces Compliance Outreach Program Seminars for Investment Adviser and Investment Company Senior Officers
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the schedule for Compliance Outreach Program regional seminars it is sponsoring in six cities later this year. The seminars are jointly sponsored by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Division of Investment Management, and Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit. The events provide an opportunity for SEC staff to share information about risks, priorities, and deficiencies observed in examinations or investigations and to discuss how senior executives and compliance professionals have addressed such matters. The 2015 regional seminars will include an overview of the SEC’s National Examination Program as well as…
Read MoreSEC Proposes Rules to Require Companies to Disclose the Relationship Between Executive Pay and a Company’s Financial Performance
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose rules to require companies to disclose the relationship between executive compensation and the financial performance of a company. The proposed rules, which would implement a requirement mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, would provide greater transparency and allow shareholders to be better informed when they vote to elect directors and in connection with advisory votes on executive compensation. “These proposed rules would better inform shareholders and give them a new metric for assessing a company’s executive compensation relative to its financial performance,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “The proposal would require…
Read MoreSEC Proposes Cross-Border Security-Based Swap Rules Regarding Activity in the U.S.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose rules governing the application of certain requirements to security-based swap transactions connected with a non-U.S. person’s dealing activity in the United States. The rules require a non-U.S. company that uses U.S. personnel to arrange, negotiate, or execute a transaction in connection with its dealing activity to include that transaction in determining whether it is required to register as a security-based swap dealer. “These proposed rules are critical for the SEC’s oversight responsibilities,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “The rules will help ensure that both U.S. and non-U.S. dealers are subject…
Read MoreSEC Charges Santa Barbara-Based Hedge Fund Firm, Executives, and Auditor for Improper Expense Allocations
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based hedge fund advisory firm and two executives involved in improper allocations of fund assets to pay undisclosed operating expenses. The SEC also charged an accountant who conducted the outside audit of misleading financial statements that the firm sent to investors. An SEC investigation found that Alpha Titans LLC, its principal Timothy P. McCormack, and general counsel Kelly D. Kaeser used assets of two affiliated private funds to pay more than $450,000 in office rent, employee salaries and benefits, and similar expenses without clear authorization from fund clients…
Read MoreSEC Announces Award to Whistleblower in First Retaliation Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a maximum whistleblower award payment of 30 percent of amounts collected in connection with In the Matter of Paradigm Capital Management, Inc. and Candace King Weir, File No. 3-15930 (June 16, 2014), the SEC’s first retaliation case. The whistleblower will receive over $600,000 for providing key original information that led to the successful SEC enforcement action. The whistleblower in this matter suffered unique hardships, including retaliation, as a result of reporting to the Commission. The SEC charged Paradigm with retaliating against the whistleblower after the firm learned that the whistleblower reported potential misconduct…
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